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Tag Archives: Sulatan hypocrisy

The Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bokia, seems to have little sense of irony, nor does he seem overly committed to introspection. In imposing his version of Law on his unholy, wholly owned state, he has failed to consider the naked hypocrisy of his actions.

He wants to cut off the hands of thieves. He wants to stone adulterers to death and, of course, stone homosexuals to death. I guess an adultering homosexual would get stoned twice. I got stoned twice in the 60s, but we may not be on the same page here.

This is not just a cheap pun I’m making (though it surely is that). It also pertains to Sharia Law. We, in the West, tend to a nearly encyclopedic ignorance of Islam. We simply believe what any interpreters say that Islamic law is. We don’t understand that the Holy Quran, The Haddiths (the stories and quotations of the Prophet), and the Canoon (the written laws derived from the Quran and Haddiths) are neither simple nor self-evident.

Just as our Constitution, written a little over 200 years ago and in English, says different things to different Supreme Court Justices, so Sharia is in the eye and heart of those interpreting it. Sharia is no more one code than our Constitution is.

For the Sultan to excuse his barbarous actions, or blame his brutality, on Sharia is insulting to Islam. He is rationalizing his political choices on a particular interpretation of a version of Sharia. Were his a sincere religious conversion, we might cut him some slack on the hypocrisy, while still hating the brutality. However, we must doubt his sincerity.

He is against alcohol—not just for Muslims for everyone in Brunei. He is requiring all to attend the Mosque and pray 5 times a day. Some reports indicate this will include non-Muslims, which should make for interesting encounters in his local Mosque. As for the gays, adulterers and thieves, well, they’re at the top of his sin and kill list. He is a very strict and religious man–except in how he lives his life.

However misguided he may be, the real hypocrisy comes when you consider his chain of hotels, The Dorchester Group. These include, as we all now know, the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Bel-Air. How do these two local hotels make money? Well, they serve alcohol–wine and distilled spirits—and at a fine markup. I wonder if they’ll go dry? They cater to folks whose relationship might not be exactly sanctified according to Sharia, Roman Catholic Canon Law or Jewish Halachic principles. Some of the couples, uh, coupling on his fine cotton sheets might be committing adultery. I wonder if he’s prepared to refuse them service or demand to see their marriage licenses? And as for thieves…I saw my former literary agent at the bar only last week.